Photos & Quotes pertaining to Life in the Womb
FROM FERTILIZATION TO EMBRYO
The first stage in the development of a human being, the embryonic stage, begins with fertilization. Fertilization generally occurs in the first third of the fallopian tube, the canal that connects each ovary to the uterus. In fertilization, once one of the spermatazoa (sperm cells) has penetrated the ovum, or oocyte, it becomes impenetrable to all the other sperm cells.
Once fertilization has occurred, the primordial cell, called the zygote, migrates to the lining of the uterus.
While doing so, this cell undergoes successive divisions, soon forming an embryo with 2 cells,
then 4, then 8, and so on.
a) 2-cell stage; b) 4-cell stage; c) 8-cell stage; d) and e) morula stage
The first three-dimensional structure that emerges from these cell divisions is a sphere of cells. The term morula is used to designate the ensuing stages of embryonic development (16, 32,and 64 cells). The morula is thus the product of the first cell cleavages, which result in practically no growth, because the daughter cells become smaller and smaller.
The morula is like a solid ball. But after the 64-cell stage, this ball develops an inner cavity, called the blastocoele, thus becoming a blastula. The blastocoele is bound by a single layer of cells. It is during the blastula stage, about 7 to 8 days after fertilization, that the embryo becomes implanted in the uterine wall. 
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ARTICLE: Life at 4 Cells - A human embryo is a living member of the human species even at the earliest stage of development. It is not some type of other animal organism, or some kind of a clump of cells that later undergoes a radical transformation. Barring some kind of tragic accident, a being in the embryonic stage will proceed to the fetal stage and continue to progress in this development. ( Fr. John Flynn, LC - Catholic Archdioceses of Melbourne - April 2008)  |
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Month 1 / 4 Weeks
Hereditary characteristics were set when the sperm met the egg.
Father's sperm determined your baby's sex.
Baby develops from a single cell to an embryo. He already has a head and body.
Baby grows inside a sac of amniotic fluid (bag of waters).
His brain, eyes, mouth, inner ears, and digestive system are starting to develop.
Brain, nervous system, heart, and lungs are forming.
His heart begins beating around the 25th day.
Tiny spots for ears, eyes, and nose exist, and arm and leg buds are forming. |
THE MIRACLE OF THE HUMAN EYE DEVELOPING IN DARKNESS FOR SEEING IN LIGHT
... Indeed even as great a neurophysiologist as Sir Charles Sherrington (1951) could speak of 'the miracle of the human eye developing in darkness for seeing in light and the miracle of the human ear developing in silent water for hearing in vibrant air.' - (Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry (1972) Vol 6: 99) - |
Photo courtesy of Priests for Life.org
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Month 2 - 7 Weeks |
HE IS NOT A POORLY FUNCTIONING ADULT RATHER A SPLENDIDLY FUNCTIONING BABY
For many centuries interest in foetal life was restricted to anatomical studies by embryologists or to mechanical problems in delivery as they presented to the accoucheur. The legacies of this era are well known - particularly the attitude that, apart from some aimless kicking which began in the fifth month, the foetus was a placid, dependent, fragile vegetable who developed quietly in preparation for a life which started at birth. ... in fields from physiology and biochemistry to education and psychology, there has grown up the habit of regarding the foetus and the neonate as a poorly functioning adult rather than as a splendidly functioning baby. (Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry (1972) Vol 6: 99) |
Photo courtesy of Pro-Life America.Com |
Month 2 - 8 Weeks
3D Ultrasound
At 8 weeks, this baby can kick and straighten his legs, and move his arms up and down.
Elbows, knees, fingers and toes develop
The baby has his / her major organs although they are not completely developed
Bones begin to harden
Facial features are forming
Baby is about 2-1/4 inches long and weighs less than 1 ounce |
THE FOETUS IS VERY MUCH IN COMMAND OF THE PREGNANCY
... recent advances in foetal diagnosis and therapy have provided both the technology and opportunity to piece together a new picture of the foetus. Far from being an inert passenger in a pregnant mother, the foetus is very much in command of the pregnancy. It is the foetus who guarantees the endocrine success of pregnancy and induces all manner of changes in maternal physiology to make her a suitable host. ... It is the foetus who determines the duration of pregnancy. It is the foetus who decides which way he will lie in pregnancy and which way he will present in labour. Even in labour the foetus is not entirely passive - neither the toothpaste in the tube nor the cork in the champagne bottle, as required by the old hydraulic theories of the mechanics of labour. (- Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry (1972) Vol 6: 99) |
Photo courtesy of Pro-Life America.Com |
Month 2 - 10 Weeks
3D Ultrasound
At 10 weeks, this baby can move her arms and legs with a range of movements that are fluid and supple.
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MOVEMENT FROM 8 WEEKS
... In his warm and humid microclimate, the foetus is in neither stupor nor hypoxic coma. From the few electroencephalographic studies, he appears to show cyclical activity, the lighter periods of which correspond in the neonate to a drowsy wakefulness from which he is readily aroused by a variety of stimuli. Like all internal organs, the uterus is insensitive to touch, indeed, to all stimuli except stretch. Hence foetal movements are not felt in the uterus but in the maternal abdominal wall, which explains why quickening is not apparent until 16 to 22 weeks of gestation. The foetus has been moving his limbs and truck since about eight weeks, but some 10 or more weeks elapse before these movements are strong enough to be transmitted to the abdominal wall. (Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry (1972) Vol 6: 99) |
Photo courtesy of Priests for Life.org |
Month 2 - 11 Weeks
Thumbsucking
Babies as young as 11 weeks have been seen with their thumbs in their mouths. This baby started out sucking his smallest toes and gradually moves on to suck a bigger toe. |
Photos courtesy of Priests for Life.org
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Month 3 - 12 Weeks
Baby now progresses from an embryo to a fetus.
He begins to kick, can make a fist, can turn his head, squint, and frown.
Teeth, lips, and genitals begin to develop. There are 20 buds for future teeth.
By the end of this month, your baby's organs are formed and most are working, with much development as well as growth yet to occur.
He is just about 4 inches long and weighs 1 ounce.
Yawning
Babies in the womb produce a yawning-like motion from as early as 12 weeks' pregnancy. Maybe this is to get a baby ready to take its first breath. |
Photo courtesy of Priests for Life.org |
Month 3 - 14 Weeks |
Photo courtesy of Priests for Life.org |
Month 4 - 16 Weeks
Baby's hair, eyebrows, eyelashes, fingernails and toenails are forming. She has vocal cords and taste buds and can now suck her thumb!
Baby is about 10 inches long and weighs about 3-4 oz.
Ears, arms, hands, fingers, legs, feet, and toes are completely formed.
Reflex movements allow your baby's elbows to bend, legs to kick, and fingers to form a fist.
The heart is beating about 120 to 160 beats a minute.
About 1 cup of amniotic fluid surrounds the baby in the sac.
Baby's kidneys circulate the fluid swallowed by the baby back into the amniotic sac.
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THE STRUCTURES OF THE INNER EAR ARE VERY NEARLY OF ADULT SIZE FROM INITIAL DEVELOPMENT
... Sudden noise in a quiet room - the dropped gallipot or maternal voice - startles the foetus lined up under an image intensifier, and from at least 25 weeks the foetus will jump in synchrony with the tympanist's contribution to an orchestral performance. By applying intermittent pure tones by hydrophone or air microphone to the maternal abdominal wall, foetal audiometric curves may be constructed by recording the abrupt changes in foetal heart rate. ...
.... it is worth nothing that, unlike most foetal organs which start off in miniature, the structures of the inner ear are very nearly of adult size from initial development. This magnitude of course is necessary because cochlear spectral response obeys simple physical laws dependent on cochlear dimensions. If, for instance, the cochlea grew in proportion to the rest of the body, babies and children would hear in a different frequency range from adults and the communication gap between generations would be even wider than it is already. (Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry (1972) Vol 6: 99)
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Photo courtesy of Priests for Life.org |
Month 5 - 20 Weeks
Baby has become very active and is doing lots of kicking and turning. Early on, these movements may feel only like a faint fluttering.
He sleeps and wakes at regular intervals.
He has hair and is beginning to develop a coating of vernix-a white, greasy substance that protects his skin.
His eyelids are still closed.
His fingernails are beginning to grow.
His heartbeat can be detected.
He now measures about 12 inches in length and weighs about 1-1/2 lbs. |
ARTICLE: EXPERTS SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT ON ABORTION PAIN - Dr. Wright testified that "The development of the perception of pain begins at the sixth week of life. By 20 weeks, and perhaps even earlier, all the essential components of anatomy, physiology, and neurobiology exist to transmit painful sensations from the skin to the spinal cord and to the brain."
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Photo courtesy of Pro-Life America.Com |
Month 4 - 22 Weeks
3D Ultrasound
At 22 weeks babies are capable of fine hand and finger movements. In a short space of time this baby scratches, rubs and pats his cheek before doing the same to his nose. |
UNRESTRAINED BY GRAVITY
... The mechanism by which the foetus changes ends in the uterus is simple - he propels himself around by his feet and legs. The mechanism by which he changes sides is more subtle - he employs an elegant longitudinal spiral roll and at the midpoint of his turn has a 180 degree twist in his spine. He first extends his head and rotates it, next his shoulders rotate and finally his lumbar spine and legs - in fact, he is using his long spinal reflexes. Insofar as this is the obvious way to turn over, there would be nothing remarkable about it except that according to textbooks of neonatal and infant locomotor function the baby does not roll over using his long spinal reflexes until 14 to 20 weeks of extrauterine life. However, we have unequivocal films of the foetus using this mechanism at least as early as 26 weeks gestation, and it is apparent that the reason we do not see this behaviour in the neonate is not that he lacks the neural co-ordination but that a trick which is simple in a state of neutral buoyancy becomes difficult under the new-found tyranny of gravity.(Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry (1972) Vol 6: 99) |
Photo courtesy of Priests for Life.org |
Month 6 - 24 Weeks
Baby can open and close her eyes, frown squint, and hear sounds inside you.
Her unique fingerprint and footprint patterns have formed.
She can cough and hiccup, which may feel like knocking movements. Baby is big enough to be felt when the abdomen is examined.
Her skin is still wrinkled and red.
Baby measures about 15 inches in length and weighs about 2½ lbs.
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ARTICLE: BABIES FEEL PAIN - Babies [at this stage of development] can actually feel pain and are not just displaying a reflex reaction to a stimulus, a team of doctors and scientists said. Using brain scans of tiny babies born as early as 24 weeks after conception they found that during routine procedures such as obtaining a blood sample from a heel they feel pain.
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Photo courtesy of Pro-Life America.Com |
Month 6 - 24 Weeks
3D Ultrasound
At about 24 weeks, after retinal development is complete, babies open and close their eyes intermittently.
This helps a baby to perfect the blinking reflex, which will protect his eyes once he's born. |
WE ARE ENTITLED, I UNDERSTAND, TO ASSERT THAT THE FOETUS FEELS PAIN
(Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry (1972) Vol 6: 99) ...
The foetus responds with violent movement to needle puncture and to the intramuscular or intraperitoneal injection of cold or hypertonic solutions. Although we would accept, rather selfishly, that these stimuli are painful for adults and children and, to judge from his behaviour, painful for the neonate, we are not entitled, I understand, to assert that the foetus feels pain. In this context I think Bertrand Russell's remark in his Human Knowledge, its Scope and Limitations, rather apt - he relates 'A fisherman once told me that fish have neither sense nor sensation but how he knew this he could not tell me.' It would seem prudent to consider at least the possibility that birth is a painful experience for a baby. Radiological observation shows foetal limbs flailing during contractions, and if one attempts to reproduce in the neonate by manual compression a mere fraction of the cranial deformation that may occur in the course of a single contraction the baby protests very violently. And yet, all that has been written by poets and lyricists about cries of newborn babies would suggest that newborn babies cried for fun or joie de vivre - which they never do afterwards - and in all the discussions that have ever taken place on pain relief in childbirth only maternal pain has been considered. Karelitz in New York has shown that, as judged by the strength of stimuli required to arouse them, the first sleep of neonates is more profound than any subsequent sleep, and this is perhaps hardly cause for surprise when we know that labour may represent very prolonged stimulation and interference with normal foetal activity cycles.
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A Sleeping Newborn |
THIS THEN IS OUR PICTURE OF THE FOETUS
(Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry (1972) Vol 6: 99) ...
This then is our picture of the foetus. He does not live in a padded, unchanging cocoon in a state of total sensory deprivation, but in a plastic, reactive structure which buffers and filters, perhaps distorts, but does not eliminate the outside world. Nor is the foetus himself inert and stuporose, but active and responsive..
.... We may not all live to grow old but we were each once a feotus ourselves. As such we had some engaging qualities which unfortunately we lost as we grew older. We were physically and physiologically robust. We were supple and not obese. Our most depraved vice was thumbsucking, and the worst consequence of drinking liquor was hiccups not alcoholism.
When our cords were cut, we were not severed from our mothers but from our own organs - our placentae - which were appropriate to our old environment but unnecessary in our new one.
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